Missing
by Santiago'sGirl1985
Summary: A freak storm hits the small island, soaking the land and all the people. While everybody is running for cover, nobody knows that Baird is missing. Will they find him in time?
1. Chapter 1

Missing Part 1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

OK so here is a short 2 part story for in between writing my stories Sorry Babylon, it's another kinda sad, Baird story.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The storm had come in so quickly that nobody was prepared. The skies were completely void of any clouds when Baird left early morning for a mind clearing walk.

Talking to Samantha Byrn was useless. She was always trying to show the guys that she could out shoot, out drink and out fight everybody and that just annoyed him. He couldn't take any more of her mouth. He was tired of her calling him "Blondie" as well. It wasn't "Hey Baird" oh no it had to be "Hey Blondie.."

He didn't know how much more he could take of her, and nobody was doing anything. Oh no, of course Cole and Bernie would just laugh while Marcus remained silent. Dom poor guy was still grieving over Maria.

Some time had passed since Maria's….death, but it still haunted Dom, every waking moment and even his his dreams…well nightmares. At night he would wake screaming, waking other sleeping Gears.

They would only grumble, roll over and go back to sleep. Nobody had the heart to talk to him about his sleeping problem. Not even Baird could say something to Dom. Dom was the image of loyalty. A true friend you can count on when shit hits the fan.

Baird walked through the long rows of "homes" that was set on base for the people brought out of Jacinto. People were just beginning to wake as they made their way outside to stretch and glare at the rising sun.

The summer heat came early, threatening the people with humid days, heat exhaustion, stroke and nasty burns. It was still pretty early and already Baird felt muggy. His shirt stuck to his body from the sweat that was already dripping down his back.

"Ugh…"

He quickened his pace as he made his way to the fresh cool air of the beach. Down there for now it would be quiet and empty.

And it was….

The salt air was nice and cool, very refreshing after a night of drinking. Baird felt himself almost gag at the thought of the night before. He had let Sam's words get to him and accepted her drinking challenge.

Luckily they both had the same about to drink before they both passed out. His dignity was still intact.

"Stupid woman…" he muttered.

Slowly he walked along the beach until he came across a good sized cliff that overlooked the entire beach. He scaled it quickly making his way to the top and just stared out into the ocean.

The sun was higher now and the beach was becoming more and more crowded, but nobody bothered him. Most people already knew not to bother him. He had to give them credit, they did learn quickly.

The last time somebody tried to bother him, he verbally lashed out at the woman, making her cry. After that, any civilian refused to even look him in the eyes. That was fine though. He didn't need their sympathy.

A small part of him wondered what his parents would say about him now. They were so against him doing what he loved best, and now here he is doing what he did best: fix things.

He hadn't thought of them in years. The last time he had seen them, they had argued, then he left slamming the door behind him and he never returned home after that. He had immediately went into the service. He never saw them again, not that he cared any.

Baird had gone deep in thought when a shadow was casted over him, blocking out the sun completely for several seconds. Looking up, Baird found himself under a huge cloud covering.

"Shit. When did that happen?"

By the position of the sun, it was already past noon. He cursed himself for sitting out here for so long and wasting the whole morning just sitting there.

"Great. I'll probably hear it from Marcus."

'And Sam." He thought.

He frowned at the thought of the brunet scolding him. For some reason, that irritated him greatly.

Quickly he made his way down the steep slope of the cliff, carefully stepping around any dangers that might cause his feet to slip. The sound of thunder caused him to jump and he scolded himself for acting so childish. There was no reason to be afraid, he wasn't a child anymore. He hadn't been for a very long time.

Slowly at first drops of rain began to hit his head, small drops soon turned to large ones as they soaked the ground beneath his feet and making it difficult to walk. His steps became unsteady as he was quickly soaked through to the bone. It wasn't any easier when the heavy winds came, whipping his cloths and hair about him.

He cursed the wind as he put his back to it, but that was a big mistake.

It happened so quickly, that once the movement stopped, there was no way of stopping it. The dirt had quickly become mud and stepping wrong, his feet went out from under him causing him to fall right on his tail bone. If it wasn't broken it had to be severely bruised. His guess was the first one.

There was no way to stop it now, the water and mud seemed to pull him so quickly down the hill, dangerously fast to the bottom. He tried to grab at anything that would either slow or stop his fall, but nothing seemed to work. Panic began to grip at his chest, making it difficult to breath, he made the wrong choice of tensing up just before hitting the ground.

His body slammed hard, and it was instant pain shooting throughout his entire body.

Yeah defiantly something broken there. The pain was just way too much to bare and he was instantly unconscious.

Everybody had left the beach so quickly that nobody had seen him fall. The rain came down so quickly, wiping away dirt and plant life. The cliff overlooking the ocean was now being cleaned of any dirt that had been up there, and it was now covering Baird.

Back at the base, Gears were running around trying to get everybody out of the rain. They all had just arrived to the small island, and no permanent homes had been built yet. Most of the people were living in tents until their homes could be finished.

Everybody ran though the now muddy streets of the base, making their way to a large sheet metal building that was supposed to be CIC.

Inside the people stood some huddled together as they dripped, leaving large puddles everywhere.

Some Gears were passing out anything they could to help the people dry off.

Col Hoffman, Bernie, Anya and Marcus had been talking quietly stopped as a long stream of people began to pour in.

"This doesn't look good." Bernie said quietly.

"Yeah, no kidding." Col Hoffman frowned.

"What are we going to do with all these people, sir?" Anya said quietly.

"Hell if I know." Hoffman replied.

They just kept coming, like it was an endless line of people.

Finally after several minutes, Marcus spoke. " I guess we can clear out several floors for them to sleep until the storms pass and everything dries off."

"Yeah but that puts them in a smaller even more cramped places. They'll be extremely irritable." Bernie pointed out.

"Well, it'll have to do until we can find other arrangements." Hoffman replied. "Gather everybody and clear up the top 4 floors. We are going to need to hurry. If we have to move CIC to another building for the time being, so be it."

Hoffman watched as everybody hurried off. Sometimes he hated himself. Being the Col wasn't what he really wanted. He just…fell into the position. Now he was an officer, sending good men and women off to die and somehow, he was still alive.

Somebody once told him: Dying is easy, it's living that is really difficult.

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

Untitled Part 2

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

tee-hee just typing away while at a friend's house and thought I would write a quick story while I am still trying to figure out my next chapter for another story. I hope that ya'll like it ^^

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Marcus, Dom, Hoffman, Bernie, Anya, Sam and Cole all met up in front of CIC only to come to the conclusion that Baird was nowhere to be found.

"Great." Sam muttered. "Where the hell is Blondie?"

"Maybe he's going for a walk." Dom suggestd.

"At a time like this?!"

"Who knows." Hoffman interrupted. "Let's just find him and hurry and get this over with."

Around them, the storm showed no sign of stopping. The pathways were beginning to get flooded and covered in mud. If the storm kept up like it was, there would be nothing left of the island.

"Do you think we can get a raven up, sir?" Anya suggested.

"I wouldn't advice it in this weather." Hoffman looked thoughtful. "Where would Baird be right now."

"Well, not the base." Sam pointed out.

"Beach."

Everybody looked at Cole in wonder.

"What are you talking about?

"Well, when I first met Baird, we had been talking and he told me that he always liked the beach. It reminded him of a happier childhood before his parents had become way too busy to spend time with him."

Sam fell silent.

"Alright." Hoffman said quickly. "Let's hurry and go get him."

They sloshed through the water and mud as they made their difficult jog toward the beach. By the time they were close, they found themselves sore and breathless. From where they were standing, there was no sign of Baird.

"Keep your radios open. If you find anything, call it out."

Something in Sam's gut just made her feel like to empty out her stomach onto the wet sand. She couldn't quite explain it, but something just felt so wrong.

Hoffman and Anya took off one direction, Marcus and Dom another and Cole and Sam another.

If they thought that it was difficult walking over on the base, this was a million times worse. The sand being wet clumped together and the weight of their boots sunk down and pushed the sand up past their ankles. It felt like they were in a box of kitty litter.

Sam ran out ahead of Cole, feeling as if something was pulling her in that direction. For some reason, it felt like somebody had been calling her name and she had to get over there as soon as possible.

Cole was actually struggling to keep up. He felt himself continuing to sink down, the sand going up over his boots and having to lift his legs up high was beginning to wear him out. It was one thing to run on asphalt , but this sand was just really crappy.

"Hold on, Sam." Cole said.

Sam didn't even look behind her. She knew that Cole would keep up or catch up eventually.

The rain was just coming down even harder now, making it difficult to see. Her dark hair stuck to her face and she brought up a shaky hand to push the strands behind her ear. She could feel her cloths sticking to her body like a second skin, though with each breeze from the wind, a cold chill cut through her, causing her to shudder.

She could see the cliff ahead as it rapidly got closer and closer. Still Baird was nowhere in sight. Panic seemed to fill her completely as she stopped and began to spin in 360 degrees. Cole stopped beside her panting.

"Sam…."

"Sorry, Cole. I was just…."

Cole rested his large hand on her shoulder. "No need to apologize. We are all worried about Baird."

"Yeah…"

She couldn't explain what drove her to come running over here, and it would just sound silly, or crazy….

Not a sound, no movements nothing. It was like a barren wasteland with an ocean on one side. There was no footprints from the direction they just came from.

'What now? Where do they look for him now? Was he alive?' she thought.

There was a soft groan that caught her attention. She turned around a few times, trying to figure out where it came from.

"Did you hear that Cole?"

"Hear what?"

She became frustrated and hurried closer toward the cliff. Maybe if she got higher, she could look out at the beach. If she really did hear a groan, that would mean that somebody is closer by.

Reaching out she grabbed for the rock only to have her hand slid off and she fell on her butt. She winced and held her sore hand to her chest.

"You okay Sam?"

"Yeah. I guess I wasn't prepared for that."

She stood, and this time carefully placed her hand to start her climb.

"I'm hoping to get to the top of this cliff and maybe I can see further out Hopefully I will be able to see him from up here if he's on the beach."

Sam brought up a foot to push off to start the climb but her foot only slipped, causing her to fall forward and slam her head against the rock.

"Sam!"

Cole grabbed her just before she hit the ground.

"Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah."

Sam stood, a little shaky at first, but eventually she stood without any help. Circling to the other side, she looked for any place that would be easy to climb. Her body was numb now, and she could no longer feel her hands. It wasn't until she looked at them before she realized that she was bleeding.

Taking a step back, her foot came in contact that seemed to be almost soft. It gave way in a different way than the rain soaked sand and quickly she jumped to the side.

Soon she and Cole were on their knees pushing away the much, almost feeling hopeful. That's when they came to what was underneath all that sand.

Baird. He had been completely covered from the neck down and just happened to be able to keep the sand off his face long enough to continue getting air, but he was unconscious now.

"Baird!"

Her hands moved quickly, pushing away the sand from his face and placing his head on her lap. As Cole pushed away the dirt from his body so his chest could get air in his lungs, he noticed that some of the sand was stained crimson. Baird was injured…. He looked up to Sam.

What were they to do? A raven couldn't fly in this weather and it would take a while for them to carry Baird back to the base.

"Col Hoffman." Cole's voice came over the radio. "We found Baird several clicks down the beach. He's pretty injured."

"I hear you." Col Hoffman replied. "Everybody meet up over there."

Sam had only looked down at Baird for only a moment, but it felt like a life time. When she looked up again, she found the rest of their group running in their direction..

Baird didn't look good. He laid there wet, cold, and extremely pale. They all hoped that they could get Baird back in time.

"We need to get moving now!" Col Hoffman said, breaking though their thoughts.

Cole carefully lifted Baird into his arms like a groom holding his bride. Sam watched as Baird's limp body just dangled there as if he were a mere doll.

"Alright guys, let's get him out of here."

Sam remained glued to Cole's side and they ran back up the beach toward the base. The gruesome scene left behind was only there for a moment, before it was washed away by the raging storm.

Doc Haymen waited for them at the make shift hospital with several helpers on scene. Her once white lab coat was now stained red from the blood of so many injured soldiers and civilians.

"let's get him inside."

As they made their way inside, Sam was forced to wait with the others in a small room which served as the waiting room. Cole continued to carry Baird deep into the hospital only to reemerge several minutes later and take a seat in a chair that was much to small for him.

Now all they could do was wait.

Sam hated waiting. After what seemed like forever, she began to pace.

Three hours later, the Doc finally came out removing the bloody cloths and throwing them away.

"Well.. "she said. "It looks like Baird will be okay. He has so many broken bones, but that's about it."

Both Sam and Cole collapsed into a chair at the same time.

Relief flooded them, and they smiled. Before they knew it, they were instantly claimed by sleep.

Yes for now everything seemed to be just fine.

END


End file.
